Quoth The Raivyn

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Help! I can't cook!

As some of you know, I cannot cook very well. I come from a family where having a good meal means ordering out. But now that I've been out of the mother's house for a few months, it's time to learn to cook. I have recently mastered hamburger helper (although I still have some issues with it) and need to branch out to other things.

And so now I need some help here.. I need some SIMPLE dinner recipe ideas, preferably low fat/carb (the dude's trying to lose a few pounds) and don't take all day to make. Any contributions would be greatly appreciated.

Wash chicken with water, melt about a half tub of Butter or margarine and add a bit of Parsly and a bit of Kyan Pepper (just a couple pinches, like the size of your little finger nail), mix in and add the chicken and let sit for about 30-minutes... Now use a deep pan and place chicken in and pour all the butter over it... Stick in oven already heated at 350 and then ever fifteen minutes rotate chicken pieces and use a spoon or brush and cover them with the butter... After an hour it should be done... Just look at the meat and see it it looks like it's ready to fall off the bones, then you know it's ready..

Keith's Goulash...(you'll need a big pan for this one)...

Brown 1-pound of burger while boiling 2-cups of Macaroni, drain then add 3-teaspoons of Chilli Powder, 3-slices of American Cheese... Fry your fav Mushrooms in butter and also add to the mix... Also include 3-cloves of Garlic crushed plus one 8-oz. can of Tomato Sauce and one 4-oz. can of Tomato Paste, Still on the *Simmer Setting* for about a minute and cover... Continue stirring every few minutes and cover... In about 15 minutes turn off the heat and let sit for a few minutes and then serve... Lasts me a week or more...

Oh Popcorn???...

If you don't have a popconr maker and wanna do it like mom used to...

Put about 2-tenths of an inch (about the thickness of 4-credit cards)of cooking oil in a *Pot that has a lid*... Turn the burner on to Medium and throw in 4 or 5 popcorn kernals leaving the lid off... When all those kernals Pop! (or course take them out if they already didn't jump out), you know the oil is the correct temp to make pop corn... Pour in your popcorn and put the lid on... As soon as the first few kernels start popping grap the handle and use a smooth rotating movement over the burner until the time between pops is about 3 or 4 seconds or until the lid is about to come off from popped corn... (Pratcice makes Perfect)... hehe

My Mom is a good cook, but a lousy teacher, so I didnt learn to cook before I left home. My suggestion would be to start with boxed items, if you follow the directions, you stand a good chance at making some edible. Once you get comfortable with something like Hamburger Helper you can add your own little twist to it. There are alot of boxed typed meals, everything from Chicken Helper (cousin to hamburg helper) to "Voila", found in the freezer section of your store.

Good luck, sometimes we have to figure it out on our own, to really become good cooks.

It's easy! Get a George Foreman grill, boneless chicken breasts, BBQ, Teriayki or any bottled sauce you like, pour on chicken breast, grill on George's thing. Now with a couple of these grilled breasts you can:

Put it in microwave, melt cheese, put on a hero with lettuce, tomato and honey mustard.

Put it on a bed of mixed greens from a bag, a little blue cheese from the salad bar, sprouts, mandarin oranges from a can, voila! A pretty salad

Make mashed potatoes, some brown gravy from a packet, a Jolly Green Giant package of veggies - voila! Sunday Dinner

It's not hard. Start with only one "real" ingredient and work your way up. You can do the same as above with boneless salmon steak too. Healthy and quick and tasty.

Oh! Get a small wok and stir fry. Cut stuff up small, throw a bit of oil in the wok, throw stuff in wok with soy sauce or teriyaki and stir it around.

I can't cook either! Sorry. I can follow a recipe, but that's about it. Food in a box usually works for me, but that is usually carby foods. Oh... I do have a small George Foreman grill and love that thing.

Potato Pot Stickers. My own version, though. I think they're like Pierogies. Anyway, round wonton wrappers from the store. Nuke 3 small or 2 medium potatoes for a few minutes, until they are done. Saute up half an onion. Peel and chop up hot potatoes, add sauted onion, for color toss in some parsley or a chopped up green onion, add 3 big spoonfuls of sour cream (can go lite version on this if you want). Salt and pepper to taste.

Open wrappers up. Dip your finger into a glass of water and paint around the edge of the wrapper. This is to moisten and fix it so it will glue itself shut. Spoon in just a little bit of the potato mixture. Fold the wrapper in half and from the middle begin pinching and pleating it shut. One side stays flat and the other gets pleated. You end up with a curvey neat little pot sticker.

Heat up a skillet, heavy ones work real good. Pour in a little oil. Put in the pot stickers and shake it around a little bit. They will brown up quickly, probably in less than 2 minutes. Stand back with the lid in one hand and some chicken broth in the other. You're going to pour in about a third of a cup of chicken broth into the pan. When that water hits the oil hell is going to break loose. That's when you slap the lid on real quick like.

Let it all bubble away for a couple of minutes. Lift the lid cautiously and poke at one of the pot stickers to see if it feels done. Or, do like I do and eat one.

It takes me about 2 batches in our skillet to use up all the wrappers.

About Me

Hi, I'm Raivyn, a 22-year-old musician from (upstate) New York. I also author IGTB, my "new" blog on which I provide other bloggers with lots of tips and tutorials to help them improve their own websites.